Rotary International

Mission: To encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and advance peace and goodwill around the world.

Background: The first Rotary club was formed in 1912 when the organization's founder, attorney Paul P. Harris, invited local business acquaintances in downtown Chicago to a meeting, where he proposed the idea of a club that would bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and advance peace and goodwill. In the more than hundred years since, Rotary — which today comprises clubs, Rotary International, and the Rotary Foundation — has grown to become a global non-sectarian network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers dedicated to making positive, lasting change in communities at home and abroad and whose primary motto is "Service Above Self."